Department for Transport

High Speed 2 Railway Line

lord berkeley: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer byLord Young of Cookham on 10 October that Ministers intervene in projects "if fresh estimates and more money are required from the Treasury" (HL Deb, col 116), whether, and if so, when, any such interventions have taken place in respect of HS2 Phase 1; what were the results of any such intervention; and whether any new estimates and programmes are planned before permanent construction works starts next year.

baroness sugg: Spending Review 2015 established a long term funding envelope for HS2, which is set at £27.18bn in 2015 prices for Phase One. That funding envelope remains unchanged and we are determined to deliver within it. Department for Transport Ministers discuss the progress of all of their major projects with officials on a regular basis. No formal intervention has been made on HS2 Phase One, either in relation to requesting new cost estimates or additional funding for the project from HM Treasury.

M1: Road Signs and Markings

lord berkeley: To ask Her Majesty's Government when the traffic signs on the M1 southbound carriageway between junctions 11 and 10 were last inspected for overgrown foliage; and whether they adhere to the minimum clear visibility distance as specified in the Traffic Signs Manual.

baroness sugg: Highways England inspects the M1 between junctions 11 and 10 southbound on a weekly basis and its inspection regime includes visibility of traffic signs. Highways England is aware that visibility of some signs is becoming obscured by overgrown foliage and plan to carry out work to cut vegetation back during the week commencing 22 October.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Fracking

lord greaves: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to make changes to the traffic light system for monitoring induced seismic activity resulting from drilling and fracking for oil and gas; and what is the procedure for making such changes.

lord henley: There are no plans to make changes to the traffic light system for monitoring induced seismicity.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Eritrea: UN Human Rights Council

lord alton of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with counterparts in Europe regarding Eritrea’s candidacy for election to the Human Rights Council at the forthcoming UN General Assembly.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: Her Majesty’s Government does not publicly declare its position with other States in regards elections for membership of the Human Rights Council. No discussions were had with other member states regarding Eritrea’s candidacy.

China: Detention Centres

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports of the widespread use of detention centres in Xinjiang, China; and whether they will make representations to the government of China to allow access to such centres by UN rapporteurs and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: We have serious concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang and reports of the Chinese Government’s deepening crackdown; including credible reports of re-education camps and widespread surveillance and restrictions targeted at ethnic minorities. The Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific, Mark Field, raised our concerns about Xinjiang with Vice Minister Guo Yezhou during his visit to China on 22 July 2018. The Foreign Secretary also raised our concerns about the region with Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his visit to China on 30 July 2018. The UK raised our concerns about Xinjiang in our Item 4 statement at the September UN Human Rights Council.

Israel: Bedouin

lord judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the context of international law, what assessment they have made of the case for referring the government of Israel to the International Criminal Court if the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar goes ahead; what factors they have taken into account in any such assessment; and what arrangements, if any, they have made to make such a referral.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: We have not made an assessment of this. The UK remains deeply concerned about Israel’s planned demolition of the village of Khan al-Ahmar. Khan al-Ahmar is located in an area of strategic importance for the contiguity of a future Palestinian state. Its demolition threatens a major blow to the prospects for a two-state solution. At Prime Minister’s Questions on 17 October, the Prime Minister reiterated the UK’s strong opposition to Israel’s proposed demolition of Khan al-Ahmar. The Minister for the Middle East and North Africa raised our concerns with the Israeli Ambassador to the UK on 11 October.

Travel Information

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they listed (1) Somalia, (2) Afghanistan, and (3) the Democratic Republic of the Congo as countries with areas to which all travel was advised against.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office advise against 'all travel' or 'all but essential travel' to a particular place if we consider the risk to British nationals is unacceptably high. In the case of terrorism we advise against travel in situations of extreme and imminent danger, where the threat is sufficiently specific, large-scale or endemic to affect British nationals severely. Prior to 2001 our records are in an archive and not immediately available, but in 2001 we advised against 'all travel' to parts of Somalia; as well as against 'all travel' to Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Advice against 'all travel' to parts of these countries has been in place ever since, though the specific areas to which this has applied have changed many times. We keep all of our advice, including the areas where we advise against travel, under constant review.

Jerusalem: Palestinians

baroness tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they are making to the government of Israel following the Protection of Civilians Report by the United Nations Office of Humanitarian Affairs which states that, as of 24 September, a total of 306 Palestinian-owned structures have been demolished by Israel this year in East Jerusalem.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: ​While we have not raised this specific issue, we routinely raise the issue of demolitions with the Israeli authorities. In all but the most exceptional circumstances, demolitions are contrary to International Humanitarian Law. The practice causes unnecessary suffering to ordinary Palestinians and is harmful to the peace process. We regularly make clear our serious concerns about the situation in East Jerusalem to the Israeli authorities and the Municipality of Jerusalem, both bilaterally and in co-operation with EU partners. These concerns include the evictions of Palestinians and demolition of Palestinian property; the construction of illegal Israeli settlements; and the removal of residency rights from Palestinians. The Government supports Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem, facing demolition or eviction through our legal aid programme. This helps residents to challenge decisions in the Israeli legal system.

Nature Conservation: Antarctic

baroness kennedy of cradley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they are giving to the creation of a wildlife sanctuary in the area of the Weddell Sea.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: The UK is a co-proponent of proposals for a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the Weddell Sea, as well as proposals for an MPA in East Antarctica, both of which are being presented at the meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) taking place this month for adoption. UK scientists and experts have been closely involved in the development of the Weddell Sea proposals.We remain committed to establishing a representative network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) around Antarctica, having led the agreement on the first Antarctic MPA around South Orkneys Southern Shelf.

Cabinet Office

Elections

lord rennard: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the operation of the arrangements under section 46 of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 for Returning Officersto correct mistakes made in the counting process after a result has been declared; and how many instances there have been of such corrections being made by Returning Officers since the Act came into force.

lord young of cookham: Decisions made under section 46 of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 are not reported to be collated centrally. The Government is not aware of any significant issues or abuse relating to section 46. The Government will continue to keep this matter under review.

Elections

lord rennard: To ask Her Majesty's Government, followingthe incorrect election result declarations in three wards of the London Borough of Newham in May, what assessment they have made of the requirement to list election candidates on ballot papers in alphabetical order of commonly used surnames whilst requiring the results to be declared in order of legal surnames.

lord young of cookham: To assist electors, candidates are allowed to use commonly used names on the ballot paper. The Electoral Commission’s guidance sets out that a declaration of result should include both a candidate’s full name and their commonly used name.

Department for Education

Special Educational Needs

lord addington: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the approach to specific learning difficulties and dyslexia contained within Warwickshire Educational Psychological Services' publication Teaching Children and Young People with Literacy Difficulties Practice Guidance, published inFebruary.

lord agnew of oulton: The department have not made an assessment of this report. We are continuing to improve standards on literacy and to support schools and parents on special educational needs and disability (SEND) including dyslexia. Schools are required under the Children and Families Act 2014 and the accompanying SEND Code of Practice to identify and address the special educational needs (SEN) of the pupils or students they support. Maintained schools are given notional SEN budgets and should use this to pay for support to children with dyslexia where required. Schools must use their reasonable endeavours to make sure that a child with SEN gets the support they need – this means doing everything they can to meet children and young people’s SEN. The Equality Act is clear that a person (P) has a disability if — (a) P has a physical or mental impairment, and (b) the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on P's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. All schools have duties under the Equality Act 2010 towards individual disabled children and young people.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Planning Permission: Appeals

lord shipley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what performance targets apply to the Planning Inspectorate in respect of their time taken to (1) acknowledge appeals submitted, (2) undertake an appeal either by the written representation procedure or by a formal hearing, and (3) notify interested parties of the outcome of an appeal; and whether those targets are being met.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: We are working hard on a number of fronts to improve our performance. One of the known challenges is recruiting the right number of inspectors. This has been a consistent issue for the Inspectorate over a number of years. In response to this, we are now developing different models for entry to the inspector workforce as well as procuring around 100 Non Salaried Inspectors and undertaking a further recruitment of Inspectors.Through our transformation programme we are undertaking an end to end review of our processes, challenging the effectiveness of the technology that supports all our casework and looking forensically at our working practices. This work has already begun to deliver a significant improvement in performance, such as halving the time it takes to validate cases from over two weeks in 2017 to currently under one.

Local Government Finance

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the National Audit Office’s finding in its report Financial Sustainability of local authorities 2018that central government funding for local authorities has fallen by half in real terms since 2010.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: Central government funding cannot in isolation provide a true representation of local authority finances. The responsibilities, structure and makeup of local authorities have changed significantly since 2010 and spending power, formula grants and settlement funding assessments are not directly comparable over this period. For example, with the introduction of the Business Rates Retention Scheme local authorities estimate they will keep around £2.4 billion in business rates growth in 2018-19.The 2018-19 settlement for local government confirmed a £1.3 billion increase in resources to local government over two years - £44.3 billion in 2017-18 to £45.6 billion in 2019-20. This recognises both the growing pressure on local government’s services and higher-than-expected inflation levels. In the long term, next year’s Spending Review will determine funding for local government from 2020-21 onwards and will enable us to look at local government spending in the round.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Flood Control: Finance

lord kirkhope of harrogate: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to invite utility companies to contribute appropriately to Flood and Coastal Resilience Partnership Funding schemes when their assets and infrastructure would directly benefit from such schemes.

lord gardiner of kimble: Defra’s current partnership funding policy encourages financial contributions towards flood defence schemes from all beneficiaries, including utility companies. Utility companies are responsible for the resilience of their supplies. The 2016 National Flood Resilience Review requires utility companies to develop plans for permanently improving resilience of service provision from the most severe flood events.

Department for Exiting the European Union

UK Trade with EU

lord lilley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of whether the EU can reach a legally binding agreement with the UK on their future trading relationship before the UK has left the EU.

lord callanan: As the Prime Minister made clear in her Statement to the House on Monday 20 October 2018, the Future Framework agreement will take the form of a political declaration that will accompany and be referred to in the Withdrawal Agreement. Although the EU is only able legally to conclude the final agreements on the future relationship once the UK has left the EU in March 2019, this political declaration will nevertheless carry significant force.

Treasury

Child Benefit

lord bassam of brighton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their latest estimate of the number of families and children deprived of access to child benefit since the introduction of the two child limit in 2018; and what is the average annual loss of income per annum to each family affected.

lord bates: No families or children were deprived of access to Child Benefit as a result of the policy to provide support for a maximum of two children in Child Tax Credit and Universal Credit.

Taxation

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the conclusion by the Institute for Fiscal Studies report, The IFS Green Budget, published on 16 October, that it would be necessary to raise tax revenues by 1 per cent of national income to "end austerity".

lord bates: The government has been clear that it is committed to a balanced approach, funding our public services, keeping tax as low as possible while getting debt down. The Chancellor will set out his approach in more detail at next Monday’s Budget.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Data Protection: Churches and Voluntary Organisations

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government what adviceabout the General Data Protection Regulation they provide to churches and voluntary organisations who may not have adequate expertise to understand actions taken by them which might be in breach of that Regulation.

lord ashton of hyde: The Government recognises the challenges facing organisations across the UK economy to be compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. The Information Commissioner’s Office has published a range of user-friendly material on the GDPR on its website. It has also set up a dedicated phone line for small organisations and charities. Details can be viewed at: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/advice-service-for-small-organisations/. The ICO will continue to provide support for organisations on the new laws.

BBC Parliament

lord stevenson of balmacara: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations, if any, they made to the BBC prior to 10 October regarding the continuation of edited daily and weekly programmes on the BBC Parliament channel.

lord ashton of hyde: The Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport has not made any representations on this issue. Decisions relating to BBC Parliament are for the BBC as a body operationally and editorially independent from government.